Indiana Hoosiers set their sights on NIT

Hanner Mosquera-Perea gets a pat on the head after scoring and drawing a foul shot in the second half. The Indiana University Hoosiers hosted the Ohio State Buckeyes in a Big Ten mens basketball game at Assembly Hall in Bloomington on Sunday March 2, 2014.(Photo: Rob Goebel/The Star)Buy Photo

A place in the NCAA Tournament is now officially beyond Indiana's reach. But the Hoosiers still want a postseason bid.

At 17-15, and boasting wins over four ranked teams, the Hoosiers are candidates for an at-large berth in the NIT. The Hoosiers have not played in that tournament since 2005.

Bracket projections for the secondary postseason tournament aren't as common as their NCAA counterparts, but what qualifies as the general consensus on the matter sees the Hoosiers in the NIT field. Indiana coach Tom Crean would welcome the opportunity.

"I hope we get to continue to play," Crean said in the aftermath of a 10-point loss to Illinois. "It would be an honor to keep playing, and I'd like to see us continuing to get better."

The NIT field is comprised of 32 teams, including a number of automatically qualified teams.

Automatic bids are handed out to teams that win their regular-season conference title but do not earn an NCAA Tournament berth. There's no limit to the number of automatic bids that can be handed out, so there's no set number of at-large bids to be handed out either.

That can work against at-large candidates like Indiana. Eleven automatic bids have been granted, and there could yet be another half-dozen or so handed out, narrowing the field considerably.

Including projections from websites Bracket Matrix, NYCBuckets.com and Draftings.com, Indiana appears comfortably in the field, though not particularly well-seeded. The Hoosiers have been predicted to finish anywhere from a No. 4 seed to a No. 6 seed.

(Photo: Kiichiro Sato/ AP)

The NIT selection committee meets this weekend, and selects its field once the NCAA Tournament field is set.

Teams are bracketed by geographic region, rather than by matching up No. 1 with No. 32, and No. 2 with No. 31, and so on, according to Jeff Williams, NCAA assistant director for championships and alliances.

So even if it did not host its first-round game, the selection committee would make an effort to keep Indiana relatively close to Bloomington. Teams may also play one level above or below their assigned seed in limited circumstances.

Higher-seeded teams have first right to host games in each round, provided they can meet the logistical requirements of hosting. Kentucky, for example, had to play at lower-seeded Robert Morris last season because the NCAA Tournament was being played in the Wildcats' home arena.

First-round games will be played March 18 and 19. The semifinals and finals of the NIT are played at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, where Indiana played two games in November, as part of the 2K Sports Classic.

"It gives (Indiana) another opportunity to gain more experience, us coming together as a team and kind of working toward something," grad transfer guard Evan Gordon said.

Redshirt sophomore forward Austin Etherington echoed Gordon, saying extra games and the accompanying practices would be good for Indiana's young roster.

Should the NIT come calling, Etherington said the Hoosiers would put a season of unmet expectations behind them and take it as seriously as any postseason competition.

"We knew we were a young team, so you can't just say that it was completely disappointing," Etherington said of IU's 2013-14 season. "We have a chance to make it to the NIT, and if we do, I think we're definitely a team capable of winning that."